Beautiful Monster, Miles Borrero
Beautiful Monster, Miles Borrero
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

Beautiful Monster
A Becoming

Author: Miles Borrero

Narrator: Miles Borrero

Unabridged: 6 hr 45 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 10/24/2023


Synopsis

A breathtaking, exquisitely crafted memoir about a trans person’s singular journey through breaching the boundaries of gender—across generations, cultures and borders—to become his truest, most authentic self.

Nearing the age of forty, with an entire life already lived as a woman—half in Colombia, half in the US—Miles Borrero comes face to face with his father’s impending death. Suddenly realizing that he has been stalling his transition for fear of losing his family’s love, this moment catalyzes Miles’s determination to be fully known as his father’s son before it is too late.

In Beautiful Monster, Miles chronicles his unusual childhood, by turns riveting and hilarious, in ’80s and ’90s Colombia during the Pablo Escobar years, as well as his move to Salt Lake City to pursue acting and the winding trajectory that eventually lands him in the New York City yoga scene. Within these very different cultures, the realities of being queer and trans echo poignantly through the triumphs, heartbreaks, family dynamics, spiritual pursuits, and relationships that propel Miles along his path.

Sublimely nuanced and written in ravishing prose that is as unique and irresistible as its subject, Beautiful Monster is one person’s story of navigating the pressures to perform femininity while becoming a gender outlaw. Brimming with wonder, humor, and mythos, entertaining and enlightening in equal measure, this book offers a compelling case for embracing one’s true nature.

Includes original music performed by the author

Reviews

Goodreads review by JP Higgins on October 27, 2023

Midway through his memoir Beautiful Monster, Miles Borrero makes a pledge while floating in the dazzling blue waters of Santorini, Greece. “Here, I give myself over to the majesty of my own mythology and re-member, reconstruct, piece back together my own divinity.” It is a bold, audacious devotion -......more

Goodreads review by Alyssa on August 18, 2023

Beautiful Monster by Miles Borrero is a peek into the author’s experience of coming fully into his identity. It is at turns fanciful despite the gravely serious nature of self exploration and navigating a world that finds comfort in fitting people into tidy boxes that they don’t always fit into. Borr......more

Goodreads review by Mary on November 24, 2023

Rhapsodically beautiful, funny, heart-wrenching, inspiring ~ I thoroughly enjoyed this wild and wonderful river ride with Miles down the rapids of his mythical adventure, a true hero's journey. There is challenge and discovery, joy and overwhelm, heartbreak and courage, death and rebirth. I danced,......more

Goodreads review by Donna on November 16, 2023

This book is so well written. It took me on the writers honest journey of their life throughout, with all the range of human emotions. From the moment of the ride on the horse when a child to the family moments and letters at the end of the book (those moments were true tear jerkers for me) the book......more